Sure, the good doctor was dusted along with half of all living things in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. We never believed they were all truly gone for good, and this news confirms it. Marvel, however, declined to comment.

There's no script yet; that should be in the works early next year. But per The Hollywood Reporter, Benedict Cumberbatch will return as Stephen Strange, along with Benedict Wong as his right-hand man, Wong. Rachel McAdams is rumored to be returning as well, as Stephen Strange's somewhat-reluctant love interest, while Scott Derrickson will reportedly return to the director's chair.

That's all the details we have right now, but the ending of the first Doctor Strange certainly set things up for Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to return as a worthy opponent. Mordo became disillusioned when he discovered that the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) he followed so devotedly achieved her long life by drawing on power from the Dark Dimension. A post-credits scene showed Mordo taking away the mystical energy that another acolyte had been using to walk despite being paralyzed in an accident. So it makes sense he would play some role in the sequel.

130 Reader Comments

Apropos of nothing else, I watched The Martian again this weekend, and was struck by the number of MCU actors appearing in it... Of course, with nearly 2 dozen MCU movies released or near released, soon it's going to be tougher to find actors that haven't been in an MCU release...

I know some people were expecting more from them, trying to show "complex things, like sometimes the heroes don't win" but this one was totally devoid of impact to me. And what's more, it feels like they're starting to be egged on by the supreme, almighty Sequel Hook - the supposedly infallible way of getting people to see the next one.

I've stayed far, far away from any media rumored to end with a sequel hook. I'm devoting enough of my time I expect a good story and a fitting conclusion, even IF they want to do more with the characters and world later. If they can't do that anymore, I'm not really interested. I can't even keep all the story concepts together in my mind over the year(s?) they can sometimes have between releases.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

So essentially we'd expect the next Dr. Strange to arrive as either a summer or really early fall blockbuster. We can surmise that the events of the snap from Infinity War will be (at least partially) reversed during Endgame. For some reason, I was expecting Infinity Wars to be a trilogy. Maybe that's just being so used to the trends.

Mordo makes for a logical choice of villain; although he has been made unfortunately plain in MCU. The same goes for many villains which were over-the-top in comics. Mandarin anyone?

well there is always the chance that they stay dead and they pick a new black panther and a new sorcerer supreme (i know i know chances of that are as slim as me finding a unicorn but i love to stoke the fires)

Or they branch out to the multiverse. It's a great tool for one-shot stories which don't require you to have watched all the previous movies and don't affect/are not affected by the rest of the MCU 616 canon.

Apropos of nothing else, I watched The Martian again this weekend, and was struck by the number of MCU actors appearing in it... Of course, with nearly 2 dozen MCU movies released or near released, soon it's going to be tougher to find actors that haven't been in an MCU release...

I mean, sure, Mr Cumberbatch probably will be fine come the end of Avengers 4, but this sequel may be a prequel to all that. If you catch my drift.

I hope so; I felt that the first film wasn't very good as an origin story for Dr. Strange, I had hoped to see more about him learning various magical secrets and such, but the first film just descended into the usual nonsensical ending.

That said, I really, really hate Cumberbatch's choice of accent, so I'm of two minds about the whole thing 😀

lolwut? Did you even *watch* Doctor Strange? I agree 100% about the accent (although he was *much* better in Infinity War), but the 3rd act of Doctor Strange was original, inventive and satisfying. The first two acts were just magical Iron Man (though I nevertheless enjoyed them well enough), but the ending was anything but "usual" or "nonsensical".

IMO the biggest flaw of the film was that RDJ's Iron Man's brand of humour, which they tried to foist on Cumberbatch was not well done at all. BC does possess decent comedic timing, it's just not used well in Doctor Strange. Overall I found the movie to be enjoyable but fairly forgettable. Except for the third act, which was superb. I have high hopes for the franchise, however. There's so much inventive visual stuff you can do with a Doctor Strange movie and Benny C is a superb actor.

I suppose I should clarify, but what I disliked about the ending was that it was a sudden ramping up to end of the world and/or universe stakes; does anybody else remember Iron Man where the threat was just that a company that had been making weapons would make more weapons?

There were parts of the Doctor Strange ending that I liked, but I hated the villain, his solution to the threat was 100% deus ex machina, and Mads Mikelsen's character was just thrown away.

An outcast sorcerer wanting to overthrow the sorcerer supreme because she's been lying the entire time was interesting; some silly extra dimensional god was not.

I definitely agree on the attempts at humour, and his accent in Infinity War did seem less grating, though I'm unsure if that's because it's improved or he just has a lot less screen time in that.

I don't really know where I'd want another movie to go, but I'm much more interested in magical mysteries, other factions of sorcerers etc. than world ending extra dimensional threats. For example, the sorcerer supreme presumably gained that title somehow, i.e- by uniting sorcerers from all over, but they can't all be happy that Strange took the title right after graduating from basic drawing a circle in the air.

Is there anyone who thinks all the dusted characters will stay dusted/dead?

I would have believed it if different characters had been dusted. As it is, they dusted some of the obvious newer stars that have upcoming movies, and didn't dust many of the older characters whose actors will be done with MCU after Endgame.

Kinda disappointing, tbh, that they gave it away so badly and obviously (and in a non-narratological way).

They couldn't kill the main avengers. After all, it is an avengers movie, so the original cast from the first need to be there to win...

This next movie is the big send-off for the original team. The contracts are up for RDJ, Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I'm not sure how this matters. Of course the snap was never going to be permanent. That's never really been an issue, for me. Here's what I think:

1. During Iron Man 1/2, a big thing was made about how Tony had something in his chest that was slowly poisoning him. There were other movies announced, Tony clearly wasn't going to die, but that didn't take away the drama or suspense of what was happening to him.

2. We know basically nothing how the characters are going to be brought back. Sure, the comics have their version and I'm sure people can easily develop their own ideas. But who really knows? I could picture a few different scenarios:

A. They will be brought back by some characters going back in time to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers (or something further back in time, maybe saving the Asgardians and other people). In this case, maybe it's like it didn't even happen, or only a couple people know what happened but most of the characters are none the wiser, or who knows.

B. The characters are returned from the dead by reversing just their deaths (thereby the characters who didn't die have still experienced the dusting of the other characters and the time between when they're able to reverse it (so half the characters are traumatized by losing their friends/loved ones))

C. They go to a parallel universe (who knows what changes at that point?). Or:

D. Something else happen entirely (maybe all the characters, even the dusted ones, have an awareness of what happened to them)?

E. And maybe, regardless of what happens, the characters have to deal with the fallout of reversing such an event. What happens to the universe when their deaths are reversed?

So, even though the characters didn't die, the consequences are still very real. Whatever those consequences may be. Some of the characters might still die--given the contract talks and what the actors are saying about their "last day" as that character. Isn't the important thing the journey? Sure, depending on what happens, the dusting might be cheapened and feel like it was just to get at people's fee fees. But, it doesn't feel like there have been many occasions where the movies have really done that sort of thing. One can argue that Tony might have got over his PTSD a bit too quickly in Iron Man 3, but I think he's still emotionally affected by what happened, even 3 or more movies since that time.

I mean, sure, Mr Cumberbatch probably will be fine come the end of Avengers 4, but this sequel may be a prequel to all that. If you catch my drift.

I hope so; I felt that the first film wasn't very good as an origin story for Dr. Strange, I had hoped to see more about him learning various magical secrets and such, but the first film just descended into the usual nonsensical ending.

That said, I really, really hate Cumberbatch's choice of accent, so I'm of two minds about the whole thing 😀

lolwut? Did you even *watch* Doctor Strange? I agree 100% about the accent (although he was *much* better in Infinity War), but the 3rd act of Doctor Strange was original, inventive and satisfying. The first two acts were just magical Iron Man (though I nevertheless enjoyed them well enough), but the ending was anything but "usual" or "nonsensical".

IMO the biggest flaw of the film was that RDJ's Iron Man's brand of humour, which they tried to foist on Cumberbatch was not well done at all. BC does possess decent comedic timing, it's just not used well in Doctor Strange. Overall I found the movie to be enjoyable but fairly forgettable. Except for the third act, which was superb. I have high hopes for the franchise, however. There's so much inventive visual stuff you can do with a Doctor Strange movie and Benny C is a superb actor.

I thought the humor worked for me. What didn't work for me were the random pop culture references, like his music choice.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I'm not sure how this matters. Of course the snap was never going to be permanent. That's never really been an issue, for me. Here's what I think:

1. During Iron Man 1/2, a big thing was made about how Tony had something in his chest that was slowly poisoning him. There were other movies announced, Tony clearly wasn't going to die, but that didn't take away the drama or suspense of what was happening to him.

2. We know basically nothing how the characters are going to be brought back. Sure, the comics have their version and I'm sure people can easily develop their own ideas. But who really knows? I could picture a few different scenarios:

A. They will be brought back by some characters going back in time to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers (or something further back in time, maybe saving the Asgardians and other people). In this case, maybe it's like it didn't even happen, or only a couple people know what happened but most of the characters are none the wiser, or who knows.

B. The characters are returned from the dead by reversing just their deaths (thereby the characters who didn't die have still experienced the dusting of the other characters and the time between when they're able to reverse it (so half the characters are traumatized by losing their friends/loved ones))

C. They go to a parallel universe (who knows what changes at that point?). Or:

D. Something else happen entirely (maybe all the characters, even the dusted ones, have an awareness of what happened to them)?

E. And maybe, regardless of what happens, the characters have to deal with the fallout of reversing such an event. What happens to the universe when their deaths are reversed?

So, even though the characters didn't die, the consequences are still very real. Whatever those consequences may be. Some of the characters might still die--given the contract talks and what the actors are saying about their "last day" as that character. Isn't the important thing the journey? Sure, depending on what happens, the dusting might be cheapened and feel like it was just to get at people's fee fees. But, it doesn't feel like there have been many occasions where the movies have really done that sort of thing. One can argue that Tony might have got over his PTSD a bit too quickly in Iron Man 3, but I think he's still emotionally affected by what happened, even 3 or more movies since that time.

You are forgetting Adam Warlock (shown in the after credits scene in GoTG 2).

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I'm not sure how this matters. Of course the snap was never going to be permanent. That's never really been an issue, for me. Here's what I think:

1. During Iron Man 1/2, a big thing was made about how Tony had something in his chest that was slowly poisoning him. There were other movies announced, Tony clearly wasn't going to die, but that didn't take away the drama or suspense of what was happening to him.

2. We know basically nothing how the characters are going to be brought back. Sure, the comics have their version and I'm sure people can easily develop their own ideas. But who really knows? I could picture a few different scenarios:

A. They will be brought back by some characters going back in time to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers (or something further back in time, maybe saving the Asgardians and other people). In this case, maybe it's like it didn't even happen, or only a couple people know what happened but most of the characters are none the wiser, or who knows.

B. The characters are returned from the dead by reversing just their deaths (thereby the characters who didn't die have still experienced the dusting of the other characters and the time between when they're able to reverse it (so half the characters are traumatized by losing their friends/loved ones))

C. They go to a parallel universe (who knows what changes at that point?). Or:

D. Something else happen entirely (maybe all the characters, even the dusted ones, have an awareness of what happened to them)?

E. And maybe, regardless of what happens, the characters have to deal with the fallout of reversing such an event. What happens to the universe when their deaths are reversed?

So, even though the characters didn't die, the consequences are still very real. Whatever those consequences may be. Some of the characters might still die--given the contract talks and what the actors are saying about their "last day" as that character. Isn't the important thing the journey? Sure, depending on what happens, the dusting might be cheapened and feel like it was just to get at people's fee fees. But, it doesn't feel like there have been many occasions where the movies have really done that sort of thing. One can argue that Tony might have got over his PTSD a bit too quickly in Iron Man 3, but I think he's still emotionally affected by what happened, even 3 or more movies since that time.

You are forgetting Adam Warlock (shown in the after credits scene in GoTG 2).

Honestly, I'm not sure I saw that scene. I remember all the other post credit bits but I don't remember watching the Adam one.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I'm not sure how this matters. Of course the snap was never going to be permanent. That's never really been an issue, for me. Here's what I think:

1. During Iron Man 1/2, a big thing was made about how Tony had something in his chest that was slowly poisoning him. There were other movies announced, Tony clearly wasn't going to die, but that didn't take away the drama or suspense of what was happening to him.

2. We know basically nothing how the characters are going to be brought back. Sure, the comics have their version and I'm sure people can easily develop their own ideas. But who really knows? I could picture a few different scenarios:

A. They will be brought back by some characters going back in time to prevent Thanos from snapping his fingers (or something further back in time, maybe saving the Asgardians and other people). In this case, maybe it's like it didn't even happen, or only a couple people know what happened but most of the characters are none the wiser, or who knows.

B. The characters are returned from the dead by reversing just their deaths (thereby the characters who didn't die have still experienced the dusting of the other characters and the time between when they're able to reverse it (so half the characters are traumatized by losing their friends/loved ones))

C. They go to a parallel universe (who knows what changes at that point?). Or:

D. Something else happen entirely (maybe all the characters, even the dusted ones, have an awareness of what happened to them)?

E. And maybe, regardless of what happens, the characters have to deal with the fallout of reversing such an event. What happens to the universe when their deaths are reversed?

So, even though the characters didn't die, the consequences are still very real. Whatever those consequences may be. Some of the characters might still die--given the contract talks and what the actors are saying about their "last day" as that character. Isn't the important thing the journey? Sure, depending on what happens, the dusting might be cheapened and feel like it was just to get at people's fee fees. But, it doesn't feel like there have been many occasions where the movies have really done that sort of thing. One can argue that Tony might have got over his PTSD a bit too quickly in Iron Man 3, but I think he's still emotionally affected by what happened, even 3 or more movies since that time.

You are forgetting Adam Warlock (shown in the after credits scene in GoTG 2).

Honestly, I'm not sure I saw that scene. I remember all the other post credit bits but I don't remember watching the Adam one.

It was a short post-credit scene. You only really saw the cocoon that Adam Warlock used and the head b*tch (whom I wouldn't mind researching "the old ways" with her myself) from GotG2 saying "I think I'll call him... Adam..."

We already knew that all the dead characters will return. Marvel announced a sequel to Spider-Man Homecoming, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

I wonder what will happen with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 now. Dave Bautista doesn't seem to want anything to do with it and the other actors have all made noises that they are not happy with the firing of James Gunn. All I know is that so far, production is on "indefinite hold." I'm skeptical that it will ever come out of that hold.

Didn't Disney decide to use Gunn's script? Of course that still might not be enough to convince the actors to come together.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

Let's hope that the ones that died "normally" come back too then; most of the Asgardian refugees were wiped out as well, right after saving them at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. (I would say "all", but it sounds like the director's commentary or something states that some people escaped? I feel like that's cheating a bit. )

That early Asgardian kill-off scene really ticked me off. Some writer really has it out for the Asgardians. That said, the 'trivial' scene where Loki tried to knife our villain and then was killed stands out for me. Loki being Loki, I could see where he might have 'done something devious' that would enable a later 'reset'. Just a thought...

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

Other than Hiddleston's involvement, though, no details have been discussed, including the time frame. So the show could exist without Loki being revived in the MCU films.

Edit: on the rumor front, though, there are some reports that suggest that Paul Bettany as Vision will feature prominently, if not co-star, in the Scarlet Witch series and that the 3rd series will be Bucky and Falcon.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

Zero impact is a bit much, IMO, because even if the remaining heroes reverse the snap, doing so could require the sacrifice of quite a few people (one theory I heard was that Tony Stark doesn't survive Avengers 4), and there's no guarantee that everyone gets un-snapped. Also, keep in mind there were a lot of people who died "normally" in Infinity War (Gamora, Loki, Vision, etc.). That's still a pretty heavy cost for the heroes to pay, even if they end up saving the half of the universe that was turned to dust.

Let's hope that the ones that died "normally" come back too then; most of the Asgardian refugees were wiped out as well, right after saving them at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. (I would say "all", but it sounds like the director's commentary or something states that some people escaped? I feel like that's cheating a bit. )

I thought Wonder Woman was the first watchable DC movie in the post-Nolan era.

YMMV.

Yikes! Couldn't sit thru WW till the end!

Oh well, different strokes for different folks

WW was pretty much for everybody (source: almost universally positive audience and critical feedback and it made a shedload of cash). It was a really great two-thirds of a film. The last act it mediocre at best, but as the setup is so good and the characters are well defined enough, I hung on for the terrible CGI fight* at the end.

* There's nothing wrong with CGI fights (eg: how awesome is the 3rd act of The Avengers), but the one at the end of Wonder Woman is real bad.

The 3rd act of The Avengers was great because it had a soul: it almost made you believe that they could lose the fight. WW felt a bit underwhelming.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

Zero impact is a bit much, IMO, because even if the remaining heroes reverse the snap, doing so could require the sacrifice of quite a few people (one theory I heard was that Tony Stark doesn't survive Avengers 4), and there's no guarantee that everyone gets un-snapped. Also, keep in mind there were a lot of people who died "normally" in Infinity War (Gamora, Loki, Vision, etc.). That's still a pretty heavy cost for the heroes to pay, even if they end up saving the half of the universe that was turned to dust.

Let's hope that the ones that died "normally" come back too then; most of the Asgardian refugees were wiped out as well, right after saving them at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. (I would say "all", but it sounds like the director's commentary or something states that some people escaped? I feel like that's cheating a bit. )

Pretty sure only half were wiped out, per Thanos's usual MO.

Although the snap probably brought it up to three-quarters.

It's an assumption to think he did the math. At the time he snapped his fingers, half of life went away. Early subscribers were unlikely to have been part of the calculation.

I know. Crazy talk, right? I was scrolling through the front page and saw four or five stpries in which I have no background or interest, and can you imagine what I did about them?

Nothing. Didn't read 'em, didn't go whine "why is this on Ars?", didn't act all too cool for school in their comment threads. It's like I exercised self-discipline and spent my time on other things. What is wrong with me?

I know. Crazy talk, right? I was scrolling through the front page and saw four or five stpries in which I have no background or interest, and can you imagine what I did about them?

Nothing. Didn't read 'em, didn't go whine "why is this on Ars?", didn't act all too cool for school in their comment threads. It's like I exercised self-discipline and spent my time on other things. What is wrong with me?

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

First, it's rare for anyone to actually die in the Marvel universe.

Second, Loki is a trickster god. And one of the more popular characters in the MCU. I would not count him out.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

First, it's rare for anyone to actually die in the Marvel universe.

Second, Loki is a trickster god. And one of the more popular characters in the MCU. I would not count him out.

Loki is always two moves ahead. He wouldn't have attacked Thanos in person without a parachute.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

First, it's rare for anyone to actually die in the Marvel universe.

Second, Loki is a trickster god. And one of the more popular characters in the MCU. I would not count him out.

Loki is always two moves ahead. He wouldn't have attacked Thanos in person without a parachute.

Yup. And it's not like we haven't seen him pull that doppelganger trick out of his bag more than once in the past.

Although it would be kinda fun to just have him show up and not bother giving an explanation, ala The Master on Doctor Who.

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I get what you're saying, but I don't really agree. For the moment, those characters are all dead and gone.

Will it likely be undone? Sure. But it hasn't yet, and we don't know who might die along the way, in the quest to do so.

We also don't know exactly who all is coming back. Presumably all of the dusted characters will be restored, but what about Gamora? Or Loki and Heimdall?

Does the knowledge that Han gets unthawed in Return of the Jedi, make the scene where he gets frozen in Empire any less impactful?

The whole problem with "the snap" was that you knew immediately they wouldn't leave so many people dead and would have to ultimately win. Like pretty much every comic book death these days, it has zero impact because it doesn't mean anything.

Shame, because the movie was quite good.

I would be very surprised if, for example, Loki came back. Or Gamora. The ones who died pre-snap I think are likely to stay that way.

First, it's rare for anyone to actually die in the Marvel universe.

Second, Loki is a trickster god. And one of the more popular characters in the MCU. I would not count him out.

Loki is always two moves ahead. He wouldn't have attacked Thanos in person without a parachute.

Yup. And it's not like we haven't seen him pull that doppelganger trick out of his bag more than once in the past.

Although it would be kinda fun to just have him show up and not bother giving an explanation, ala The Master on Doctor Who.

Not only show up without explanation, but everyone else going "meh, Loki's here, surprise surprise". Nobody is EVER going to believe he's permanently dead. Dude makes cockroaches look like amateurs.

The Dr. Strange movie felt kinda empty, like it was just going through the motions.

Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius was kinda fun, but everyone else was lifeless.

It was hard to care about bald lady and her dark dimension ties because... so what. Dormammu just sort of shows up and leaves...

I found it somewhat entertaining, and I liked the way it was resolved. But in all honesty, it was pretty forgettable overall, mostly because the origin story was, well, predictable (and I had never really heard it before).

The twist at the end which resolved the problem made up for the predictability, but I'm not sure that would have merited a sequel built around him again were it not for his involvement in Marvel's universe. Taken on its own, it was pretty, but generally didn't really rise that much above eye candy.

I saw it on Netflix, rather than in a theater, so maybe something got lost in translation.

no, you pretty much nailed it. the first movie doesn’t merit a sequel, but given its origin story layout, the property definitely has potential to outgrow itself...

There is ONE very important thing that has not happened yet.

He is NOT YET the Sorcerer Supreme. He has yet to get that mantle yet. I expect that in the second film.

I thought Wonder Woman was the first watchable DC movie in the post-Nolan era.

YMMV.

Yikes! Couldn't sit thru WW till the end!

Oh well, different strokes for different folks

WW was pretty much for everybody (source: almost universally positive audience and critical feedback and it made a shedload of cash). It was a really great two-thirds of a film. The last act it mediocre at best, but as the setup is so good and the characters are well defined enough, I hung on for the terrible CGI fight* at the end.

* There's nothing wrong with CGI fights (eg: how awesome is the 3rd act of The Avengers), but the one at the end of Wonder Woman is real bad.

Fun Fact: The first time I ever heard the word "ropey" used to describe bad CGI was someone describing a scene in Wonder Woman that heavily featured her lasso and I was extremely confused for a while, because, you know. It's a rope.

I mean, sure, Mr Cumberbatch probably will be fine come the end of Avengers 4, but this sequel may be a prequel to all that. If you catch my drift.

I hope so; I felt that the first film wasn't very good as an origin story for Dr. Strange, I had hoped to see more about him learning various magical secrets and such, but the first film just descended into the usual nonsensical ending.

That said, I really, really hate Cumberbatch's choice of accent, so I'm of two minds about the whole thing 😀

lolwut? Did you even *watch* Doctor Strange? I agree 100% about the accent (although he was *much* better in Infinity War), but the 3rd act of Doctor Strange was original, inventive and satisfying. The first two acts were just magical Iron Man (though I nevertheless enjoyed them well enough), but the ending was anything but "usual" or "nonsensical".

IMO the biggest flaw of the film was that RDJ's Iron Man's brand of humour, which they tried to foist on Cumberbatch was not well done at all. BC does possess decent comedic timing, it's just not used well in Doctor Strange. Overall I found the movie to be enjoyable but fairly forgettable. Except for the third act, which was superb. I have high hopes for the franchise, however. There's so much inventive visual stuff you can do with a Doctor Strange movie and Benny C is a superb actor.

The bit with Dormammu, his appearance in Thor 2, and his stuff in Infinity War make a much stronger case for a sequel than the first movie. It just took them a while to figure out how to sorcerer.

I mean, sure, Mr Cumberbatch probably will be fine come the end of Avengers 4, but this sequel may be a prequel to all that. If you catch my drift.

I hope so; I felt that the first film wasn't very good as an origin story for Dr. Strange, I had hoped to see more about him learning various magical secrets and such, but the first film just descended into the usual nonsensical ending.

That said, I really, really hate Cumberbatch's choice of accent, so I'm of two minds about the whole thing 😀

lolwut? Did you even *watch* Doctor Strange? I agree 100% about the accent (although he was *much* better in Infinity War), but the 3rd act of Doctor Strange was original, inventive and satisfying. The first two acts were just magical Iron Man (though I nevertheless enjoyed them well enough), but the ending was anything but "usual" or "nonsensical".

IMO the biggest flaw of the film was that RDJ's Iron Man's brand of humour, which they tried to foist on Cumberbatch was not well done at all. BC does possess decent comedic timing, it's just not used well in Doctor Strange. Overall I found the movie to be enjoyable but fairly forgettable. Except for the third act, which was superb. I have high hopes for the franchise, however. There's so much inventive visual stuff you can do with a Doctor Strange movie and Benny C is a superb actor.

I suppose I should clarify, but what I disliked about the ending was that it was a sudden ramping up to end of the world and/or universe stakes; does anybody else remember Iron Man where the threat was just that a company that had been making weapons would make more weapons?

There were parts of the Doctor Strange ending that I liked, but I hated the villain, his solution to the threat was 100% deus ex machina, and Mads Mikelsen's character was just thrown away.

The solution to Dormammu was not deus ex machina. For one, Dormammu was the deus in that situation. But the solution had been hinted at earlier in the movie makes complete sense given the description of Dormammu we were given. It did not come from nowhere.